Luna talks to some ponies
by BlueCorpse
Summary: The end of this 'series'. 1st entry: "Rarity goes blind", 2nd: "Derpy goes to the doctor" & 3rd: "Trixie gets a letter". Read the other ones before this. Edit: I had to remove some chapters for rule violations - I will work on re-submitting them shortly.


She sat at the table alone, staring at her empty plate. She had finished and couldn't move. Her limbs were being held in place. She had been like this for a quarter of an hour. Tears had started to flow down her cheek. She could not even scream and it was an hour before one of the servants found her and called the royal physician.

"Sister, please."

"No! I will not be treated like a filly!"

The two sisters were walking down one of the many sun-lit hallways of the castle. It was a few hours after the incident at breakfast.

"Please - what if it happens again, and we never manage to find you? What if you're never able to move again?"

"I would rather that happen than be escorted around, sister."

"They wouldn't be an escort, just somepony to keep check on you!"

Luna glared, indignant. "Sister. I think you forget my status."

Celestia bowed her head and sighed - "I'm sorry, Luna. It's hard to - to -"

"What?"

"It has been such a long time, sister, and -"

"Don't."

Luna turned away, facing forwards down the hallway, and kept walking. After a few moments her sister followed.

As they continued on, Celestia muttered, too quiet for Luna to hear, "We need to do _something_. Or _I_ need to."

Celestia put the issue out of her head. She had her duties to attend to. Mostly it was paperwork, policies pre-read and approved by others: she just had to scrawl out a signature on a dotted line for five hours. Then Equestria could run for another day - after that, another stack of dead trees would require her royal attention. It drained Celestia, but there was nothing to be done: it was one of the job's inherent vices. The paperwork was the second-worst part of the day; the worst part came immediately after. The dungeon was many miles below the surface, with thousands of protective spells casted on it to ensure security. It was bitterly cold down there, and mildew grew on the cobble-brick walls. Celestia hated it, but she knew that she'd be laughed down if she suggested spending tax-payer bits on criminals. She entered the dungeon from a lengthy set of stairs, and as she descended she could see the captain of the royal guard waiting for her. He bowed.

"Your highness."

"How many today, Horatio?" She didn't try to keep the weariness (and encroaching dread) out of her voice.

"Only 40, your highness."

Oh well - better than most days, but not by much. Perhaps three hours in total. Celestia's duty was to personally listen to the testimony of each pony that had been imprisoned that day, and develop a personal judgement. Her opinion alone wasn't enough to set them free or keep them in the dungeon - that was something for the heads of the royal guard to decide - but it could certainly sway the outcome. Most of the ponies here were either innocent or had been arrested for tiny little nothing crimes: stealing apples, blocking a public road, etc. Those ones never took long. But there was always a few, around three or four, who had committed the more serious offenses, and those were the ones that Celestia stood outside of the cell for. Out of that group, there was usually one who was hard to get talking - they were always the one to watch out for. Today that pony was a light blue mare. She wore a tattered and faded purple cloak. As Celestia stood outside the cell the mare looked straight at the ground, stock-still. Horatio recited, in a low tone, "Number nine-oh-four-seven-six-oh-two. Name 'Trixie' - no surname we could find. She -"

Celestia interrupted. "Horatio, isn't she the con artist? I asked you to station some ponies near her house to keep watch on her, didn't I, after she didn't reply to the royal summons?"

"That is correct, Princess."

"What happened?"

"Well, Princess, I'm sorry to say this but - " now he spoke in a whisper " - she ended up killing three ponies, and severely injured a fourth."

The princess gasped on reflex - death? Murder, even? It was perhaps the rarest, and worst, crime in Equestria.

"Why was I not told of this earlier?"

"It only happened yesterday, Princess - we thought you would want to talk to the pony responsible as soon as you heard."

"Indeed... tell me, how did this occur?"

"It was the observers we sent, Princess: she found and attacked them, unprovoked. One was killed but the other managed to escape and alert the rest of the guard. A unit was sent to the house but she had left, so we started a countryside sweep. We caught up with her a while later, and that was when she killed the other two guards. Then we managed to bring her in."

This was a lot for Celestia. A single death alone was cause for grief. But three of them, at once, by another pony?

"Horatio?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"I hope a funeral ceremony is being planned?"

"Of course, your highness."

Celestia nodded and turned to 'Trixie'. She was still staring at the ground.

Celestia cleared her throat, and said in an authoritative, royal tone, "Attend."

Trixie didn't respond - "Attend!" Nothing.

"Do you understand the allegations that have been made against you?"

Then the mare spoke, slowly, in a croak: "I can make a guess to their nature."

It was a careless tone that made Celestia shiver. She was glad Horatio stayed with her.

"What is your testimony?"

Silence again.

"You _do_understand that if no testimony is given, your fate will rest entirely upon the choice of the royal guards? And I would not expect them to let you walk free."

Trixie laughed. It was a cold laugh devoid of humour, filled only with an acceptance of death and all that went with it. It rattled out of Trixie's lung for only a few seconds before it faded away. Celestia was reminded of exactly how much she detested this job. She was about to turn and leave in disgust - secretly hoping that the criminal would be found guilty, as wrong as she knew it was to think so - when Trixie started speaking.

"You... you don't know what it's like. Being trapped. Scared to go out in case you're taken away - feeling like you can't breathe, you can't move, you can barely think, you can't do anything -" Celestia and Horatio were staring, horrified, " - you don't know. And - and - the worst thing is - the worst thing - _you__did__this__to__me_."

"I - I have done nothing to you! You are the criminal!"

"Liar! Liar! You took away my cart, you stopped me from performing, you! And then you took away my friends, hid them away, you monster - you monster..."

Celestia and Horatio exchanged a glance and he whispered, "I don't know of any plan like that, Princess." Celestia said nothing and could only stare at the babbling Trixie, transfixed.

Trixie kept going: "...and that's why I had to move into the house away from the town, so, so you wouldn't be able to get me, and that's why I had to burn all the letters, and that's why I -" she was starting to cry now, " - I had to kill those ponies... they were going to tell you, and you were going to take me away! You don't know, you don't know, you don't know what it's like to be trapped like that, nopony does..."

Celestia ran. Ran out of the dungeon, ran up the stairs, ran, ran, ran, ran to her bedroom and fell on the bed breathing rapidly and heavily, not able to think of anything but her sister's face.

And that was how it started. At dark, when Luna would be busy with the moon, Celestia would pour over records. Any records, be they medical, criminal, financial. She was looking for only one thing. After many weeks, in which Luna froze another five times, Celestia found another two ponies she thought would work.

"What do you mean, help?"

"I mean, dear sister, that these ponies know what you have been through, and might be able to help -"

"Celestia! There is not a pony that has seen my moon and knows what it is like there."

"...I'm sorry, sister. I know. But I still think these ponies have gone through something similar, and they have learnt how to live with it. It would help."

"While I appreciate the effort, I simply do not have the time to waste talking to a blind mare, an idiot and a paranoid murderer. Besides, I don't need help."

"Please don't talk about them that way. And Luna, the last one was only yesterday."

"Yes - and the doctor said it was the second-shortest time yet before I was out of it!"

"Luna. Please."

"..."

"Don't do this to yourself."

"...what do you want me to do?"

I should never have agreed to this, Luna thought, as she was being flown towards Ponyville. It was a silly idea to begin with and it had gotten thoroughly out of hand. Although perhaps she only thought that because it was raining and she was soaked through. She just didn't see why _she_ had to go out and find this mail-mare - wasn't that what the guards were for? But Celestia had insisted - "You stay in the palace too much, sister." - and Luna couldn't really argue. Oh well. She supposed she was annoyed because the first one had been so much easier: just a simple letter. A few days later she had received a reply and that was that. To Luna, the entire trip seemed pointless – Celestia had said that this would let her understand the mail-mare's problem, but Luna wasn't convinced. These doubts and more ran through her head, but it was then that the carriage landed in Ponyville. Luna exited the vehicle and nodded to the pegasi that had flown her here. With a beat of their wings they were off. Luna remembered what Celestia had told her: "The doctor's office is the large building to the right of the fountain in the centre of town. The doctor is expecting you. Once there..." She began to walk.

The trip home was uneventful and it gave Luna time to think. She thought about Derpy, the mail-mare. She wished she could have learnt more about her but there hadn't been time for her and the doctor to talk – a shame. However, Luna learnt plenty from Derpy's dreams... poor mare, living like that. And at such a young age, too! Luna supposed a comfort of sorts could be found in the fact that Derpy would never have known anything different. Still... it was a weight on Luna's mood. She also wondered about what the blind one would be like - she had met Derpy and heard the story of the criminal. But Rarity? All she knew was a few glances from those hectic days after her return from the moon. What did Celestia said she had done? Fashion? Hopefully she wouldn't mind that Luna was a thousand years behind the trends. Never mind. Luna wanted to hear Rarity's words, and words didn't age. A week after Luna returned to the castle Rarity and Derpy arrived, and the discussions began.


End file.
